Before a user group can begin their research at the ALS, a User Agreement between Berkeley Lab and the user's sponsoring organization must be signed. Many organizations already have a signed agreement, however if your organization has not established an agreement, please send an email to
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to set one up.

The User Agreement is valid for up to five years and only covers work done on ALS beamlines. The user agreement is the document that permits the User and/or the home organization to retain ownership of intellectual property. Without the user agreement in place, the University of California (as Operator of LBNL) will claim first and exclusive rights to any intellectual property conceived or reduced to practice as a result of the use of the ALS facility resources. The user agreement also defines liability for use of DOE Users Facilities.

The following website contains a list of the organizations with current Nonproprietary User Agreements in place. If your organization is on this list, then you are covered. Separate User Agreements are required for proprietary and nonproprietary work. If your work is proprietary, then a Proprietary User Agreement must be in place. Please contact User Services for assistance.